


in the waking

by EriSakimoto



Category: Naruto
Genre: F/M, Hyuuga Neji Lives, Sequel to my previous fic but they dont have to be read together, so is neji but we already knew that, tenten is terrible at expressing emotions
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2021-03-03
Updated: 2021-03-03
Packaged: 2021-03-16 09:03:08
Rating: General Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 1,475
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/29822571
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/EriSakimoto/pseuds/EriSakimoto
Summary: Patience pays off, but now Tenten has a few things to say to her genius teammate who thinks he can just go off and nearly die whenever he wants.(sequel to my previous nejiten oneshot, set in a neji lives! au bc kishimoto can kiss my ass)
Relationships: Hyuuga Neji/Tenten
Comments: 4
Kudos: 19





	in the waking

**Author's Note:**

> I've always pictured Nejiten as the couple that trusts each other implicitly in battle situations and are casually antagonistic to one another the rest of the time. Sorry if it comes off a bit harsh though; neither if these kids are good at dealing with their emotions, and Tenten has been having A Time™

_ 11:23, Four weeks after the end of the Fourth Great Ninja War  _

Tenten was exhausted, and nasty, and miserable, and in a way, that was a comfort. 

The mission had been hell. 

Not exactly; that was ungrateful. She had wanted the challenge and the fear for life as a distraction, and for that purpose, it had succeeded. But it had been brutal, and her skills had not complimented the team she’d been assigned to well. And every morning when she’d awoken in her tent she’d imagined waking up to hear Gai outside already by the campfire, and Lee with him, listening to one of his long-winded rousing speeches with enthusiasm. And Neji, grumbling about the weather…

But the mud and the exhaustion and the fear had helped to ground her, to bring her back to herself some. 

But it had gone too long. Five days too long, actually. Five days of hellish torture not knowing what she was coming back to. She’d only just stumbled back through the village gates hours ago, skipping a shower and a rest and skipping giving her report, and going straight to the hospital. 

It was less busy than it had been a few months ago, and as a consequence there was no one at the desk to tell her anything. She wandered the familiar hallways in her half-dazed state, until she found the door to his room. It was open. She blinked at it, peering inside. The bed was empty, the flowers were gone, the machines disconnected. 

She swayed, feeling nauseous, heavy dread settle upon her stomach. That couldn’t be- maybe she’d picked the wrong room? But no, she knew that bed and that chair and that window better than her own home at this point. There was no way in hell he was already well enough to be discharged. And that left…

“Oh!” 

Tenten turned, finding a nurse coming around the corner, one she’d seen often in her daily stakeouts. The woman took in her haggard appearance, 

“Tenten-san! We didn’t expect you back so soon.” Her voice was unbelievably chipper, Tenten swallowed down the urge to attack her. 

“Where…” she said, hardly able to force the word out,

“Oh! Yes, sorry.” a grin broke out on the woman’s face, “We were able to move him into a lighter room, right this way.” 

Tenten followed her with lead feet, feeling like she must be dreaming. Through a hallway and past a few more rooms and then to a smaller door where sunlight leaked through an open window out into the corridor. 

She stood there in the open doorway, heart pounding in her throat, not quite willing to believe what she was seeing was real. Not since the mud, and the dark, and the horror of that moment when she’d first seen him, harpooned like a pincushion, had she let herself hope this much. Tenten wasn’t sure when she’d begun the process of grieving rather than believing, but she did know that seeing Neji now, alive and sitting up in bed, his hair undone and bathed in sunlight as he gazed out of the opened window, felt like seeing a dead man.

She made a choked noise, trying to force out a word, and he turned, blinking at the change of light, and smiled at her warmly. 

“Tenten,” he said. She hadn’t heard his voice since he’d left her side in the battle, what felt like a literal lifetime ago. The sound of it woke her up, made the reality of the situation come crashing down to earth. 

“You bastard.” she said, very low, and watched his face fall a little, shocked. 

“Pardon?” 

She took one small, hesitant step into the room, afraid she would shatter some illusion if she came too close. 

“I said, ‘you bastard’.” she repeated, willing her voice to hold steady, “I’m pissed at you, Neji.” 

His eyes were a blank, and so genuinely confused it almost broke her resolve. 

“Yes, I can tell that. Why?” 

“You’re supposed to be the ‘ _ genius’,  _ you figure it out.” 

He frowned at this, lips pressing into a familiar expression of displeasure.  _ Good _ thought Tenten; that was real, that was the Neji she knew how to deal with. If this scene played out like she knew it was supposed to; all teary embraces as gratitude and “i thought i’d never see you again”’s, she would never get to say what she’d been ruminating on the last few months. It would stay buried, and Tenten had never been very good at burying her grudges.

  
  


“I can’t imagine what you mean.” he said curtly, “I’ve only just woken up and found out that I’m not dead and that it’s been- God,  _ a month _ since the end of the war. If you're mad about some slight from before then, you’ll just have to forgive my spotty memory.” 

“‘Some slight’” she echoed mockingly, “I’m talking about you almost dying, jackass.” 

“If this is your way of showing affection, I’m not in the mood for it.” He said, tone cagy, “I was looking forward to seeing you again, and I feel like hell. I’m told I might never be able to leave a hospital bed or eat solid food again. So please tell me, how exactly have I offended  _ you _ by being stabbed seven times?” 

He did actually look hurt.  _ Abort  _ her mind screamed at her. But no; putting the armor down now meant letting him know how much she’d missed him, cried over him, the realizations she had faced  _ alone _ while he had been blissfully unaware and sleeping.

“It’s not the being stabbed part,” she said tightly, trying to imitate his haughty tone, “No; it’s more than that. It’s that you’re a giant hypocrite.” 

“How?!” 

“What do you mean ‘how’?!” She shouted back, finally feeling the release of her pent-up anger dissipate slightly, “ _ How?!  _ Are you kidding me? All I ever heard from you was how much you hated that stupid destiny of yours. That stupid family, and how unfair it was that you were expected to die for them. And then the first opportunity you get you…”

the dam fully broke then, taking her by surprise. Her voice cracked mid-sentence and hot angry tears began to flow freely down her cheeks, “...the first opportunity you get you do  _ this.”  _ she motioned vaguely at his bandaged body. “Just what you were always afraid of happening, and you  _ made  _ it happen. What am I supposed to believe, Neji? What’s really important to you?”

He looked shocked at her sudden outburst, the fire gone from his voice, 

“I didn’t do it for the family,” he said quietly, “I did it for Lady Hinata.” 

“And so what?! What about Lee and Gai-sensei, what about  _ me  _ Neji? Do I not matter at all?!”

Suddenly she was falling forward. No; that wasn’t right, he had gotten ahold of her wrist and was pulling her down towards him. Before she could resist he had wrapped his arms around her and held her against his bandaged shoulder as she sobbed against him, so hard it shook them both. She felt the rise and fall of his breathing against her and it only doubled her crying; here he was,  _ alive _ and awake, and she was ruining it all, for no good reason. Finally when she had calmed down enough that she could hear him again he said softly, close to her ear, 

“Of course you matter, idiot. Don’t ever let me hear you say that again Tenten.” 

She sniffled, trying to collect her argument through sobs, “But...you…” 

“If I had to choose between my life and Lady Hinata’s, I would choose hers. I owe her that. If I had to choose between anyone else or yours, I would choose you everytime. But I  _ did  _ think of you. I trusted you would be fine without me.” 

“Well you were wrong dumbass.” she said, fisting her hands into the fabric of his hospital gown, “don’t you  _ ever  _ put me through that again, do you understand?” 

When he didn’t immediately reply, she pulled her head from his shoulder to look at him, and he pressed his lips to hers, holding there for a sweet second before pulling away. 

“Is that an order, ma’am?” 

“It’s a  _ threat _ .” 

That sat there smiling at each other like a couple of fools. It took all of three seconds for him to ruin the romance of the moment, pulling back and wrinkling his nose-

“Uck, you smell  _ terrible _ . What have you been doing?” 

-Before she was back to wanting to strangle him again. But when she shot snarky comments at him, he responded in kind; it felt like music to her ears. The silence was gone, finally, seeping back into the dark corners. Tenten was ready to face anything it took for it not to return again. 

  
  
  
  



End file.
